Posted on 06/11/2003 11:23:53 AM PDT by Drew68
Wed Jun 11, 7:50 AM ET
Craig Wilson, USA TODAY
Years ago -- I don't need to say how many -- when I was a freshman in college, the first week on campus was filled with seminars and lectures and orientation meetings.
Upperclassmen set up tables on Syracuse's quad and dispensed the kind of knowledge only upperclassmen can dispense.
I remember chatting with one senior who proudly announced, ''I'm an anthro major myself.''
Maybe I didn't react fast enough, or act impressed enough, because she was quick with the follow-up.
''Anthropology?'' she asked as if introducing me to a brand-new world. ''Like Margaret Mead?''
''But doesn't Margaret Mead have the only job there is in anthropology?'' I naively asked.
She didn't like my question very much and didn't respond, turning instead to another freshman who had just strolled up to her table.
I often wonder whatever happened to her. What does happen to anthro majors? Or philosophy majors? Or art history majors, for that matter?
I came from a practical family. My parents were happy to send me to college, but they expected me to be employed in the end. A crazy notion, I know, but they were farmers, used to planting things in the spring and then getting a harvest in the fall. Even I thought it a fair exchange.
Kierkegaard and Caravaggio were all very well and good, but my dad had never heard of either, and he was damn well sure they weren't going to be very good references when the time came to hand over my résumé at a job interview.
I read the other day that this is the worst job market for recent college graduates in 40 years. The market for summer jobs is even worse, because the jobs usually taken by high school kids are now being taken by college grads who can't find jobs in, or out, of their fields.
So what's an art history major to do these days? Other than Prince William, an art history major with a somewhat secure job in sight, most everyone else will have to scramble.
The good news about a bad economy is that you have better-educated people working in the service industry. The bad news about a bad economy is that you have better-educated people working in the service industry.
I mean, do we need the woman at Home Depot telling us we're making a big mistake choosing the Ionic column over the Doric for the front porch?
There's a new radio commercial for Bud Light that salutes those out there working in the trenches, pursuing what seems to be the increasingly elusive American dream. The ad campaign is called Real Men of Genius, and it celebrates the common man, each with his own mini-bio, ending up with the not-too-surprising conclusion that we all need a cold beer at the end of a hard day.
The commercials celebrate everyone from the Mr. Wedding Band Guitar Player to Mr. Nudist Colony Activity Coordinator to Mr. Supermarket Free Sample Guy. All fictional, presumably.
Among the Real Men of Genius is Mr. Fancy Coffee Shop Coffee Pourer. And yes, you guessed it: He holds a degree in art history. A master's, in fact.
My dad would not have thought this fiction at all.
Perhaps the single most numerous small business enterprise is container drayer. Individuals buy a tractor and then hire themselves out as independant contractors to container drayage companies. They haul the shipping containers back and forth from the port to virtually every point in the USA.
Sometimes they own more than one or two tractors and hire someone to drive the second. It is the most basic of businesses, one person, one piece of equipment very tightly focused on a market clamoring for folks to do the work.
See, that's cool, but nowadays, a landmark to one is a symbol of oppression to all the people of a different color than the one who erected the landmark.
Piano rolls? Are those like Swiss Cake Rolls? I like Swiss Cake Rolls....
"If you want a degree go to college, if you want an education go to the library!" Paul H. Gettles
That's right!
That French Lit degree will help a great deal as you attend bartenders school to get a real job--like pronouncing 'Pernod' and 'Vermouth' and 'Sec'. You'll be a real asset...
Face it, since the patron system of arts died out, the only thing college is is a glorified trade school wrapped in past traditions that no longer exist.
Now, get me my martini!
Then again, there are those odd cool jobs out there that one just 'happens on'....
That sounds like my argument for making all engineering students take Hindi and Chinese so they can understand their professors and TAs.
The B.A or A.B. is not a job ticket. There are few jobs specifically for 4-year graduates, except possibly engineering jobs. If formal education is continued, it is usually followed by some kind of post-grad education, which is where the professional 'jobs' begin. Business management, lawyer, some medical positions, economists, those kinds of things begin to open at the masters level.
To write your own ticket in the world you might want the Ph.D. or other doctoral level degree. You have that, you are professional, end of story--it's up to you and only you after the doctorate: you have the key to the world in your hand. If you have some public speaking talent you might even run for high public office.
Hey! You got my last job.
Only if you suddenly realize why her name seemed so familiar to you the night before!
We got so P*ssed off at our chemistry TA, Hong Ma, that we rioted in the classroom screaming at him: "What the F$%# are you saying!?" "What the F$#% are you saying?".
We caused so much trouble that he ran out of the room and got the prof. The prof ended up appologizing and getting us a new TA. It was pretty ugly.
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